Why ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ is a result of Congress buying its own propaganda

On the Internet, there are all kinds of trolls. But if you observe carefully, different trolls say different things. If you mess with someone on the Right, they will accuse you of being selective with facts. If you do that to someone on the Left, they will say that you are from the now infamous ‘WhatsApp University.’ In other words, they believe that you do not know any facts at all.

Despite the usual disclaimers, this divergence does reflect thought patterns of people on the two sides. Both sides think that the other is evil. That is far from ideal. But it is normal, perhaps even healthy in a democracy. But only one side believes that the other is unintelligent. And I would say that is why the Congress expects its “Bharat Jodo Yatra” to succeed. Because it has bought into its own propaganda that the rest of us are not very smart.

Every day now, the Congress puts out images of Rahul Gandhi doing things. Its leader can walk, run, stand in the rain, bend to his knees, eat sugarcane, and so on. The camera angles, as well as the production quality of these images and clips is outstanding. These are then shared by party leaders and influencers across all social media platforms. And of course by “pliable” journalists (to borrow an expression from Rahul Gandhi himself) who often post these pictures and videos with the most fawning commentary, Urdu couplets and so on. And all with the same underlying thought: Rahul Gandhi has come of age, see? What more could India possibly want?

At the heart of this is a party and an ecosystem that refuse to rethink, or admit any fundamental failures in governance. According to them, the only reason the Congress lost is because they could not adapt to a new-age communications strategy. And for the last eight years, they have been looking for that strategy, that special kind of social media wizardry that will finally put them over the top. And now you can almost feel them counting the likes and the retweets, and thinking: this time it has to work.

The myth of ‘photoshop’ and ‘event management’ sarkar

The Congress is right about one thing. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his team are excellent at building a brand. The way they have packaged and presented both the prime minister’s personal life and the achievements of his government, so as to maximise electoral gain, is truly remarkable. Where the Congress goes wrong is that they think it is all packaging and no substance, that the public are somehow distracted. And they believe that if they just package Rahul Gandhi a little better, the Indian public will embrace him.

In the 2019 General Elections, the NDA’s vote share was above 50 per cent in as many as 13 states and union territories, including Uttar Pradesh. If you start from Delhi and travel southwards and westwards, there is not one Congress MP until after you cross Mumbai. Could the BJP have achieved this only through distraction?

The problem is that the Congress saw the packaging, but not the real difference that the Modi government had made to people’s lives. There were toilets, gas connections, and electricity connections. There were the cheap life-saving medicines supplied through the Jan Aushadhi programme, the millions who had availed Mudra loans. People saw the houses being built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. And for the first time, the welfare system really did work, with money getting deposited directly into bank accounts.

For sure, the BJP used its formidable organisation to knock on every door before the election and remind the voters of what they had got. They used Prime Minister Modi’s personal image to perfection. But it only worked because the voters could connect it to something real. Go to the North East and see the roads and railways being built for the first time ever. And don’t forget that India was the fastest growing economy in the world for four of the first five years of Modi sarkar. Inflation remained low, a far cry from the days of UPA2, when inflation averaged 10.4 per cent, sometimes reaching as high as 12 per cent!

The duty of Opposition parties is to find fault with the government. But the Congress believed so deeply in its own propaganda of “event management sarkar” that it lost touch with reality. As a result, its criticisms often seemed simply unhinged. When 100 per cent rural electrification was achieved, the Congress asked what about electricity in every home. When that was achieved, they asked about 24-hour electricity. Fair questions, but not a good look for a party that has ruled nearly 60 years but failed to provide any of these.

Take the most recent example, of the steep fall in the rupee versus the dollar. Everyone knows that the situation is different from 2013, when the Indian currency was an outlier, falling against every major currency. Right now, every major currency is falling against the dollar. But the Congress assumes that we the people do not understand this. They think we are distracted by communal hatred, or by what they consider to be fake nationalism. And when you are convinced that the public is not smart, your campaign ends up not being smart either. So the Congress is still searching for that one really nasty joke or taunt about the falling rupee that will finally get the attention of the public. And they are wondering why the campaign isn’t sticking.

The real reason Rahul Gandhi’s gaffes get mocked so much

Did you hear the one about measuring atta in litres? Or the one where Rahul Gandhi said “pichattees,” or struggled to say “Visvesvaraya.” I bet you did. Because the BJP’s IT cell takes these clips, mocks them mercilessly and makes them go viral.

Not fair, the Congress always says. Everyone makes gaffes. In a tit-for-tat move, whenever Prime Minister Modi stumbles, the Congress makes video clips, adds a dash of taunts and tries to make them go viral. But somehow these never seem to amuse people as much. And the Congress can never understand why.

Because it is never really about the gaffes. It is Rahul Gandhi’s privilege that people are laughing at. Prime Minister Modi has decades of governing experience under his belt. And before that, decades of working up the party ranks, from worker, to manager, to leader. Rahul has none of that. All he had to do was show up and say a few words that his loyalists had written for him. When he cannot do even that much, the mockery is absolutely unforgiving. The same goes for the personal luxuries and creature comforts that the two leaders indulge in. The difference between earning something and winning a lottery. The Congress believes that people are so distracted by the packaging that they cannot make a simple distinction.

The greatest Congress leaders were great brand builders too

In 1949, the Government of India decided to send a baby elephant as a goodwill measure, a “gift” to the children of Japan. The baby elephant was named “Indira.” For those making uncharitable remarks about Prime Minister Modi and the cheetahs, this should be a valuable lesson. In a democracy, all great leaders understand the importance of building a brand. That is why Nehru’s birthday is still celebrated as Children’s Day.

Indeed, the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty is arguably the most successful political brand ever built in the world. The Congress of 1947 was a big tent, with many towering leaders, thinkers and ideologues of every stripe. Within 20 years, the Nehru-Gandhis succeeded in turning everything into a family monopoly: the party, the government, even the memory of the freedom struggle. All of India became an extension of that brand, with every government building, scheme or project named after a member of the family.

And the family understood very well the importance of using their personal lives to advance their brand. Almost all of them “studied” abroad, but Indira or Rajiv never actually finished their college degrees. It didn’t matter. The tag of “returned from abroad” was used to impress post-colonial India. They rarely ever studied science subjects, but were ambassadors of “scientific temper”. And it is not just the family that understood how to build a brand. Take Manmohan Singh, who was involved in shaping India’s hard socialist Nehruvian policies since 1971. He held every position in the system, from Chief Economic Adviser to RBI Governor. And yet in 1991, Singh managed to rebrand himself as the visionary who brought economic reforms. At the time, India was three weeks away from bankruptcy. What option did he have other than to accept the conditions set by the IMF?

Indeed, from time to time, the Congress brand managers would introduce someone as a “rebel”. Rajiv Gandhi was supposed to be one such rebel. But against what? That is why Rahul never took up a position of responsibility in the UPA government. The brand managers were waiting for the right time to introduce him as a “rebel.” One could say that in 2014, it was not so much that the packaging of Modi was successful. Rather, it was the packaging of Rahul that failed.

The effect of smug liberalism

Coming back to my original point, the problem with the modern liberal is that they believe everyone else is unintelligent. If the only thing people want is a show, we will give them a show. This is the subtle taunt aimed at ordinary people each time the Congress shares another meaningless photo-op from their so called yatra. But people want substance. And as for the packaging, the Congress used to be very good at that too.

A yatra can be a great thing in politics. Because it gives you a chance to listen. But when you are convinced that everyone else is unintelligent, you stop listening. The fear of “WhatsApp University” becomes a bigger problem than “WhatsApp University” itself. And so it is that you end up walking across India trapped in your own echo chamber. You might as well have taken a flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi.

The writer is an author and columnist. He tweets @AbhishBanerj. Views expressed are personal.

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